South Dartmouth Friendly's abruptly closes after 42 years

Friendly's in South Dartmouth abruptly closed its doors for good after 42 years this morning, leaving ice cream lovers out in the cold and the restaurant's 22 employees searching for new jobs.

MATT CAMARA

DARTMOUTH — Friendly's in South Dartmouth abruptly closed its doors for good after 42 years this morning, leaving ice cream lovers out in the cold and the restaurant's 22 employees searching for new jobs.

“Basically, last night we got a phone call saying, 'Don't come to work,'” said Nicole Albano, who had been a waitress at the restaurant for about a year. “I don't know why. We have a lot of loyal customers.”

Albano and five other former employees clustered outside the Dartmouth Street Friendly's this afternoon, shooting camera phone pictures of the frame that held the now-removed sign and asking each other where to look for new waitressing jobs.

A district manager inside the store referred a reporter to Friendly's Ice Cream spokeswoman Lynn Bolton, who said sluggish sales caused the closing.

“The South Dartmouth restaurant was not performing as well as we hoped so we made the decision to close this location ...” Bolton wrote in an email. “We are in the process of placing these employees in other area Friendly's restaurants.”

The restaurant opened in 1970, Bolton said.

The employees outside the Friendly's this afternoon said they had not been told of any job placement assistance, however. A few said they shrugged off the news because they have second jobs but others said the closing would leave them reeling.

“I've got probation fees and now I have no money,” said Ashley Sylvia, who worked as an ice cream server.

The Wilbraham-based company does not plan to shut down other Friendly's restaurants in the area, Bolton said.

A sign on the closed South Dartmouth restaurant directed patrons to the Fairhaven location off Huttleston Avenue.

There is also a Friendly’s on Route 6 in North Dartmouth.

Friendly's, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, has shut down a number of stores in recent years. The company shuttered 63 locations, including restaurants in Wareham and Taunton, last year, and about 30 more stores in the western part of the state and in Connecticut closed in January.